The last time Wagga Wagga’s CBD was inundated by floodwater, Robert Menzies was the prime minister, Melbourne was ready to host the Olympics, and Elvis Presley was topping the charts.

So, when David and Vicki Malligan received their annual insurance renewal from Coles Insurance this year, they were convinced there had been a mistake. 

The cost of insuring their new-build central Wagga Wagga unit against flooding increased from just over $500 in 2024 to nearly $9,000 in 2025.

Vickie and David Malligan faced a 94 per cent annual hike in their insurance premium for their property in central Wagga Wagga. (ABC News: Melinda Hayter )

The 2025 renewal notice for Vickie and David Malligan’s Wagga Wagga property.  (ABC News: Melinda Hayter )

“We started looking around for other insurers to take on our property, going through maybe eight insurance companies, and we could not get a quote below a few thousand dollars,” Mr Malligan said.

“It’s legal extortion.”

Local broker Georgina Brown said it was a widespread issue across the southern New South Wales city of nearly 70,000 people.

“Among the four or five insurers we have that issue home insurance, I would say that the premiums have gotten worse in the last five years,” she said.

“It definitely seems to be a whole-market approach.” 

The hike in premiums comes at a time when the city should be less likely to flood. 

Upgraded levee 

In 2020, Wagga Wagga City Council completed a $23m upgrade to the city’s extensive levee system, which is rated to protect the central business district and surrounding residential areas from one-in-100-year floods in the Murrumbidgee River.

The improvements came after major flooding in 2012, which resulted in the evacuation of the CBD for just over 24 hours, but did not lead to inundation. 

Wagga Wagga’s levee bank system protects the CBD and surrounding residential areas from inundation when the Murrumbidgee River floods.  (Supplied: Wagga Wagga City Council )

The last time the Wagga CBD flooded was in 1956.

Meanwhile, in Queensland, the inland town of Roma has been lauded by the federal government as an example of how flood mitigation projects like levees can reduce insurance premiums. 

In a 2023 speech to the Insurance Council of Australia’s conference, former assistant treasurer and minister for financial services Stephen Jones said, “… the construction of the levee [in Roma] reduced insurance premiums by an average of 34 per cent.”

Scott Sanbrook, CEO of advocacy group Committee 4 Wagga, cannot understand why the opposite situation has happened in his community. 

Scott Sanbrook says the higher insurance premiums in the city’s CBD make life difficult for residents and businesses alike.  (ABC News: Melinda Hayter )

“We’ve received a lot of feedback from residents. They ask, ‘Why am I paying more money than ever before, when the CBD is safer than it ever has been?'” Mr Sanbrook said.

In a statement to the ABC, the Insurance Council of Australia said the upgrade of the Wagga levee had been fully incorporated into the National Flood Information Database (NFID) — a key tool the insurance agency uses to determine flood risk to individual properties.

Inconsistent insurance mapping

Ms Brown said she was told the increases were a result of climate change, but the premiums being charged seemed inconsistent.

“I tried to quote a property in the Wagga CBD, which was returning a premium well over $15,000. Yet, changing that address to an area in Shepparton that actually did flood in the past three years, the premium came back to below $5,000,” Ms Brown said.

Floodwaters from the Goulburn River inundated Shepparton in October 2022.  (ABC News: Danny Morgan)

“There definitely is something not working correctly in the background.”

A comparison of home insurance quotes for a property in central Wagga Wagga. (Supplied: Georgina Brown )

Wagga vs Lismore

The ABC lodged an insurance quote using NRMA’s online portal for a property currently for sale in the northern NSW city of Lismore — a well-known flood hotspot.

The property, which the listing agent notes was affected by flooding in 2022, returned an annual home insurance quote, which includes flood cover, of just over $9,427. 

Lismore recorded its highest flood on record in February 2022.  (Supplied: Rod Evans)

That is only about $500 more than the quote offered to the Malligans for a property that has not flooded in almost 70 years. 

“Personally, I’d like to see a bit of an overhaul and a lot more transparency from the insurers on how they have arrived at their pricing,” Ms Brown said.  

“Many will send their renewal schedules out where it’ll say, ‘If you want information on how we’ve arrived at your premium, give us a call,’ but that really doesn’t result in much enlightenment.”

Georgina Brown believes premiums have increased in Wagga’s CBD since the city’s levee bank was upgraded.  (ABC News: Melinda Hayter )

A spokesperson from QBE acknowledged concerns around rising insurance costs and the complex factors driving premiums, including increasing severity of weather events, rising global reinsurance costs and higher inflation.

NRMA Insurance said pricing in Wagga had been updated twice, during the Wagga levee’s construction and just prior to it being completed, and that on average, local premiums decreased by up to 33 per cent. 

Allianz said it reviewed flood premiums based on government maps, external data and flood risk modelling. 

The ABC has sought comment from Coles Insurance, which is underwritten by the Auto and General Insurance Company, regarding the Malligans’ renewal notice.

The couple has reinsured their property with a new provider, but it was still double what they paid last year.

The situation has David Malligan thinking about the future.

“It’s not going to take too much to tip us over the edge and say, ‘Bugger it, we’re outta here’.”

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